We are the flame!
by Cactus52
Summary: "And darkness fears us!" they descend, spurred on by fantasies of riches and redemption to lay bare whatever blasphemous abnormality may slumber restlessly in that unholy abyss... but Terror and Madness can find cracks in the sturdiest of honors, the most resolute of minds. "We are not the Flame!", they will cry out, "We are but moths and we are DOOMED!" Darkest Dungeon Oneshot


**A/N: So, I was playing this game, and I became pretty engrossed in it, and then I thought to myself, "Hey, this could be a great story or something!" Then I set off to type this out. I hope you like it.**

" _A moment of respite. A chance to steel oneself against the coming horrors."_

The darkness seemed to retreat a bit at the sight of a spark, then a small ember. With careful stoking of the flames a bruised and battered deer gently nursed the flame up to a bright fire. Darkness was kept at bay for now, she sat down along with two others, a wolf and a ram wearing an eyepatch over his left eye. As the dust settled the deer let out a defeated sigh.

"Things could be worse," she said, trying to sound positive but it ended up coming out dry and husky.

The ram scoffed, "No kidding, oh well, so much for the twenty five percent each," He said in a grim voice while staring blankly into the campfire. His every move was accompanied with the sounds of scraping armor, he let his mace fall to the floor next to him as he brought up his backpack to inspect the provisions they had been issued.

The weary wolf fidgeted restlessly with his thumbs, not letting his focus slip up, without looking up to check if anyone was listening he spoke out, "We didn't even get to know his name."

The ram sat up tall and directed his focus onto the wolf who was struggling with a lot of feelings at the moment. "Names make way for friendship, friendship makes way for emotions, and emotions make way for bad decisions when the inevitable happens," The ram stated in a cold tone while eyeing the wolf up and down, his tattered rag that he called an overcoat had many scars and holes from their battles down in this veritable labyrinth of a cellar.

The wolf's eyes met with that of the ram's, the wolf conceded by breaking contact first, suddenly finding the rising embers more interesting, with an accepting tone to his voice he spoke to no-one in particular, "I guess he's awaiting merciful oblivion now." The wolf took of knitted gloves to inspect his paws, multiple claws long gone, scars along his pads. More than a weary traveler.

"Let's hope that," The deer interjected while she tuned her arbalest, a heavier and newer version of a crossbow. Even if it was newer and better it was still and old weapon, in multiple ways. It had been in many battles, that could be evidenced by the many jack's and dents in the frame of the weapon, there were visible signs of extensive usage were the bolts were loaded. The other way it was and old weapon was with the invention of flintlock pistols, the age of the noble crossbow-mammal and arbalests were soon to be gone, giving way to newer weapons and roles, such as fusiliers among others.

Yet, she had chose an arbalest, if anyone asked she would simply reply with, 'the scalpel beats the sledge.'

She took a glance around them, 'black as pitch', shuddering she turned her eyes back to the wolf, the orange glow of the flames tinting his grey fur and brown overcoat. Even though they didn't know each other well, she felt comforted when her look wandered into his yellow orbs.

The ram lifted the lid of the skillet that was hanging over the open flames, almost immediately a alluring smell of various herbs and spices could be smelled wafting the murky, stale air, making everyone eager to taste the culinary perfection. Gently scooping some of the brew up in a repurposed tin can each they inhaled the rich, salty broth and gently nursed the mixture, the wolf leaned back and shut his eyes, he could picture it in front of him, sitting around a campfire with his pack, chatting, playing and eating. Then the rams coarse voice brought him back to the present, sitting on the cobblestone floor underneath an enormous manor, not sure whether it was day or night outside. His pack long gone.

"This reminds me of the old days." the ram said with a fond tone, swiveling the soup around in his tin he began telling them of his early days as a young recruit in the royal army of the south. He recalled many dangerous battles he had participated in, and what had led him to be sitting here in the present. Discharged with "honor" they had oh so generously let him keep his armor, his morningstar, his seal of valour and his scars…

Now they were all huddled together like rats in a maze, an uneasy companionship forged between them, four had entered, three remained. All of them had their own reasons, gold, glory perhaps redemption?

Even the wolf, with his naturally good eyesight and night vision could not make out anything beyond the reach of the flame, this was no normal darkness, as was the mansion they had been sent to.

The wolf reached into a pocket inside his coat, and fetched a small burlap bag, gently undid the knot that was tying it together. Small brown biscuits, comically shaped like a bone could be found inside, slowly and softly he brought his other paw to retrieve one. The snack did wonders for his rapidly deteriorating mind, keeping the stress and insanity at bay.

After their shared meal they all went about maintaining their equipment, the ram-at-arms as he was known as was polishing his chestplate with high proficiency, he was careful not to harm or rip his waxed stamp that held his seal of valour. Meanwhile the arbalest deer was quietly crafting new bolts that would be of great use to her. The wolf, known only as the highwaymammal was shakily polishing his two flintlock pistols, he holstered them underneath his arms, one on each side, before reaching out for his dagger that was tucked away in a sheath on his left thigh.

They sat in silence for an hour or so before they decided that it was time to rest so that they would have enough strength to push on later. Laying down on his back, the highwaymammal stared up at what he presumed to be a ceiling, he couldn't tell because the flames did not reach. The was fire slowly dying and as it's fuel became spent the darkness once again reclaimed what it once owned. He fell asleep, curled tight like a young pup that was afraid of the dark.

" _As light gains purchase; spirits are lifted; and purpose is made clear."_

"We should get going, it doesn't feel safe to remain here." The deer voiced her thoughts to the rest of the group, which they both agreed and so they all began collecting their things. Once packed up and ready the ram-at-arms took the lead with his thick, bulky armor, shield and massive morningstar, a more elegant word for spiked ball with handle. Closely behind followed the wolf, his dual flintlocks at the ready, and the furthest back in the formation came the arbalest deer, her finely tuned weapon loaded. They quietly continued their march through seemingly endless tunnels, having to light a new torch on occasion.

All of the sudden the ram stopped, his eyes were trained on something up ahead, peering forward, the deer could make out the silhouette of what used to be another mammal at the other end of the tunnel, it was coming towards them. The ram raised his shield and held his morningstar high it's many spikes shining menacingly.

The wolf raised his flintlock's, the distinct 'click' sound echoed throughout the tunnel constructed from stone bricks layered with a crude and early version of cement, dust and cobwebs decorated the hallway in it's entirety, every step gave way to a small cloud of dust.

It was close now. "They're upon us!" The ram bellowed as a loud 'thunk' emanated from his shield, on the other side of the shield the creature had wedged it's rusted, broken sword into the well-maintained shield. Reanimated bones stared with empty sockets into the hearts of everyone present, they spoke no words, made no sounds except the chilling sound of bones clattering, **'BOOM'** , and splintering.

The wolf's round had struck true, piercing the skull that had belonged to a cougar of some sort in an age long past, the creature ceased moving and it fell. But the battle was not yet over, emerging from outside the range of their torches, as if summoned by the darkness itself they attacked in full force.

"Destroy it!" The ram urged his companions, gesturing towards the faltering creature composited of bones and tendons. The satisfying twinge that the arbalest made could be heard by the living and undead alike, a split second later the bolt burrowed itself deeply into the spine of a once civilized, thinking mammal. It fell lifelessly to the floor to rest once more.

The undead army's weapons were crude and ineffective, even so, no one should underestimate even the dullest of blades, it need only strike the right place once to fell even the most resilient of warriors. The ram-at-arms had enough, he bent his head down and readied himself to charge, this didn't faze the undead, who continued their mindless attacks. The skeleton did not seem to realize that it's journey was about to end, **'SLAM'** The hallway shook slightly as the ram put the skeleton soldier in between a rock and a hard place, instantly pulverising most of it's bones, the skull of a long dead antelope fell down and landed in the dust.

"Executed with impunity!" The ram cried out proudly as he swung his massive morningstar and felled another three undead creatures. Their bones clattered coldly against the stone floor.

" _As the fiend falls, a faint hope blossoms."_

"Aaah!" the wolf cried out as an undead warrior managed to strike him in the chest with its once proud broadsword. The deer finally managed to jab the creature with a bolt she held in her hoof.

The blow had cut through his coat and it's protective padding. Crimson began to spill forth, spreading along his fur like a sickness tainting whatever it came in touch with. The ram took a quick glance at the corridor that their attackers had arrived from. Shining his torch forward he did not see any more reanimated bones for the moment, a short sprint later and he had arrived next to them, the deer wore a face of horror and disgust at the sight of blood, there had been a reason she had chosen to engage enemies at a distance. As the ram removed the coat and examined the wound the wolf coughed and gurgled in between pained breaths.

"Everything runs red…" He weakly wheezed. The ram's face was set in stone as he cleaned and bandaged the injury, he had seen far worse than this on the battlefield, as well as far too often…

Once the wound was dressed the ram sat still and watched the wounded area intently, when nothing changed after a minute or so he stood up again wearing a small smirk on his face, he was proud of his work.

"It hurt's like the devil!" The wolf gasped as he was abruptly stood up by the far bigger ram. The ram gave him an intense look, but not like before, this time it was far more sympathetic and understanding.

"If we stick together we _will_ pull through!" The ram stated firmly while standing tall. The wolf collected himself and nodded with a stern, decisive expression. The deer was slowly cranking the massive coils on her arbalest, loading it for it's next devastating shot.

"Aye." She said smugly while fetching a bolt from her quiver. Loading it into the groove she aimed down the sight to adjust the aim a bit, she slung her weapon over her back and spoke with a positive voice, "Treasure ahead i'd wager!"

This improved the mood of the previously sour wolf. The mention of coin was a very encouraging factor for him travelling here, the other factor being adventure and danger, although he had gotten enough of the latter by now.

As they slowly made their way forward the wolf proceeded to pour gunpowder into each barrel of his pistols, using a small rod that ran parallel to the barrel. He packed the powder tightly into the back of the gun. The deer looked on curiously as he fetched two small bags and opened one, he retrieved a steel ball about the same size as the hole in the barrel, slotting it into place, he jammed it as far back as it went. Satisfied with reload number one he closed the bag and opened the other one, this one was instead filled with small nails, he took a pawful and stuffed it into the muzzle of the second pistol and jammed the metal pieces as far back as they went, once everything was done he holstered them both.

The deer scoffed, "Modern junk that will never catch on." She said while stroking the shoulder strap of her trusty arbalest. The wolf returned her snobby look with a smug look.

"Just you wait and see what the shrapnel shot can do, nasty piece of work that is." He grinned wide, enough to show his teeth. If there was one thing he took care of, that thing would be his dents. The sharp rows seemed to almost glow in the unrelenting dark of the long winding tunnels.

The arbalest cringed at imagining a pawful of searing hot, fast travelling nails striking a body made out of flesh and blood. She shook the thought and instead focused on the reward, gold, precious gold, it greases palms, builds empires and instigates murder.

They made their way out of the winding tunnel that instead opened up into a massive room, the ceiling was about as tall as a two-story building, the air smelled stale and all around the ground, various tools such as pickaxes, shovels and pikes were strewn about as if the mammals wielding them had left in a hurry. Chiseled pillars adorned each corner of the room, mysterious symbols were etched into the walls, none of them knew what they meant.

And in the middle was the thing they had been searching for, a stone archway about the size of a castle gate. The same weird symbols adorned the stonework in it's entirety. The deer opened a satchel she had been carrying with her, inside were several sheets of yellow, torn and faded paper, she fetched a stick of charcoal and quickly sketched the path they had taken from the entrance to this artefact of some sort. On the remaining sheets of paper she made a quick sketch of the pillar and copied some of the symbols on the walls.

The ram, curious over what they had risked life and limb to locate slowly stepped over to the archway, feeling it's grooves with his hoof. Suddenly he got confused, he looked around and then asked the others.

"Do you smell blood as well?" He asked them loudly. Both of them looked at each other with worried faces, they looked back at him where he was standing in the center of the room. With confused looks and an equally confused tone the deer replied, "No?" Still unsure as to why the gruff leader of this expedition out of the blue had asked such a question.

Nodding her head at the wolf and then back at the ram they both began walking towards the ram's location. Then they felt it as well, the stench.

"Now we do…" the arbalest corrected her answer. The ram and deer turned to face the wolf who was struggling not to empty his stomach right there and then, his canine sense of smell made the stench of warm blood all the more nauseating, yet, everywhere they looked everything was the same.

The wolf used one of the archways pillars to steady himself, his senses slowly going numb.

He focused his vision on his hind paws, the middle section and up to his ankle was wrapped with a layer of thick cloth to prevent injuries. His nausea quickly faded when he heard his companions gasp in surprise. Forcing his back up straight he noticed their horrified faces, he followed their gaze to what they were looking at and saw… oh god.

The inside of the archway had been starting to drip crimson droplets that trickled down and smashed against the cold stone floor. Then it started to drip more, and more, soon it started flowing, the blood seemed to ooze out of the stone. They wanted to scream but didn't know how, they had lost all words, the entire room started to rain, blood. The most sickening thing of it all was that it was _warm_ , like it had just left a body.

A low rumble enveloped the room, shaking the three mammals that were present, they slowly backed away from the archway with the wolf muttering under his breath, "This… I can't…"

At this point their torch had been extinguished, yet they could still see, the archway had a gentle hum to it as it emanated a faint source of light. **'CRACK!'** The sound of a thousand lightning bolts shook the very foundation the earth rested on, the glow had erupted into a blinding light.

Through the archway's light came a massive paw, then another, it's fur was tattered and bones were visible. The companions who had froze in fear felt adrenaline surging through their veins, fight or flight. Thoroughly soaked they readied themselves for whatever abyssal horror they may face.

The first thing they saw was a muzzle, unnaturally long with black points instead of regular enamel, then came it's eyes, black and empty like the void it originates from they stared blankly at the group who were quivering where they stood. Letting out a huge breath and taking an equally large one the ram bellowed a sonorous battle cry before charging towards the beast with his morningstar held high.

There was something about this ram and his battle cries, as they heard his enraged shouts they themselves were filled with confidence as they followed suit. Heart pounding, knees weak, head throbbing, the end is near. The wolf took aim with his guns, both went off and sent their payload towards the right eye of the indescribable horror, it did not look like any mammal or creature they'd ever seen. The beast did not as much as flinch as the bullets and fragmentation burrowed itself into it's head.

The arbalest followed this up with a shot of her own, it soared past the ram-at-arms who was currently dodging ferocious swipes from the beast. The bolt struck the beast square in the nose, once again it did not react. The beast turned its attention to the arbalest, stretching out it's right paw it threw a wipe at her, it's paw was as big she was. It's arms extended unnaturally long, bending and contorting in places that shouldn't be possible.

It lifted it's huge paw and slammed it down where the wolf had stood just a second ago, sending them both to the ground with a massive quake. The wolf dropped his pistols as he deftly dodged another blow that would have crushed him at once. Drawing his dagger he began sprinting towards the face of the creature where the ram-at-arms was currently slamming his morningstar down into it's jaw with unrelenting force.

' **BOOM'** The chamber shook once more, the ground quaked and as it seized the beast seemed to be able to wiggle out even more. It was enormous, the wolf looked up at it and then back at his puny dagger.

He snapped.

"THIS EXPEDITION IS DOOMED!" He wailed as he started running away, he had endured a lot, but everything and everyone has a breaking point. His muscles worked overdrive as his eyes focused solely on the exit, the way they had arrived. He was stopped abruptly by the deer suddenly standing in his way, she laid a hoof on his shoulder and shook him furiously, "What's gotten into you? Get in there and fi-" She never got to finish her sentence, the otherworldly horror had struck true with one of its accursed claws, the deer, still only known as the arbalest, dropped her satchel, out of instinct the wolf took it and kept it close, life faded from her body as the claw flung her away like a spent torch, four entered, two remained.

The wolf turned back to see the ram-at-arms swinging his morningstar about. His once clean and proud armor was now soaked with blood and big dents forming all around.

" _Death waits for the slightest lapse in concentration."_

The ram took a step to the right, his hoof lost it's footing when the beast slammed it's paws down right where he stood. He fell to the ground and before he got up, the horror's maw opened wide, from the inside ear-piercing screams could be heard, he got gripped by one of the paws, the black eyes looked at everything and nothing at the same time.

The wolf looked away and ran screaming, seconds after he could hear the crushing of bones…

Four entered, one remains.

Screaming and laughing maniacally he raced through the tunnels, slamming into walls and tripping seemed to have no effect on him as he bruised and battered himself even more. He didn't know where, he only knew he had to get out of there.

The wolf slowly shuffled forward and then resorted to crawling on all four. When sunshine finally stroked his cheek he sprawled out onto the grass growing outside the cellar door. He looked up into the sky and could see clouds floating by. He had made it, he was the sole survivor, not because he was brave or heroic, no. It was because of the opposite, he was a coward, he could have saved them, he thought to himself.

And he cried, swearing that until the bitter end, he would work to avenge his fallen companions, that just like him, had came in search of glory and gold in shadow of the…

Darkest Dungeon.

 **A/N: The game is called Darkest Dungeon, yep. It's pretty cool, now excuse me, I have some quests I need to complete.**


End file.
